Decayed Race - 'Demo 2011' (Grandmas Lakehouse?) 4/5

A time for another random surf find, Decayed Race, are from Texas in the USA and have only been around since the start of last year

Now this sort of stuff takes me back. In the late 1980's I was in a rather obscure thrash metal band and due to the fact we knew Bath crustcore kings Amebix we ended up on a number bills with acts from the then exploding UK hardcore / grindcore / crust core scene. This was the age of the infamous micro-song. One act we played with did over 50 tracks in a half hour set. It was a bit of a shock at first, after all my musical schooling came from the days of prog rock and old school metal, but I soon got used to the minimalist approach and broadened my musical taste to allow albums by the likes of Napalm Death and Doom into the collection.

So when I downloaded this little nine tracker and found myself with tasty slice of 80's sounding crust fueled hardcore on my hand I was little bit delighted. Of the nine tracks on offer here, seven can be called true micro songs with play times from 14 seconds to just over half a minute (of the two remaining tracks Chipped Teeth only just passes the one minute mark). Numbers like Swine Brutality, Oppressed and Bleached fly past in glorious short blurs of angry attitude, walls of sonic devastation and brutal bludgeon that hit and run like Greek rioters outside a government office. Think Sore Throat, Electro Hippies, Napalm Death and Ripchord and you'll know exactly where these guys are coming from. Then by contrast we have the closing instrumental Chained Up, by contrast an epic at over three minutes long that is classic doomcore, all grinding menace, dark riffs and wailing feedback.

OK the production here is not hot, but when it comes to this stuff it doesn't need to be, as I keep saying, punk in all its sub genres is about attack and attitude, with everything else being secondary; and boy do these guys have both in abundance. True crusty grindcore is not often heard these days so when you do find some as good as this, then it must be embraced and praised for keeping one rocks most interesting sub genres alive.

Recommended.

For fans of... Napalm Death, Doom, Police Bastard, Black Flag, Sore Throat, Ripchord etc...

This demo can be downloaded for free from here. http://www.mediafire.com/?559pmc0ckwuamcb

Porco Dio - 'Pig Your King' (self released) 3/5

Porco Dio are from Finland, they are a five piece crusty hardcore punk outfit and besides that I know naff all about them.

Now this ep (which in the two weeks since I downloaded it has been renamed 'eka demo') is as rough as fuck, the production, and I use the term very loosely, is lousy. This record sounds like it was done on a cassette recorder in the corner of a practice room, every song starts with a four count on a hi-hat (sometimes with a bit of guitar feedback for added noise), which then launches into a wall of chaotic noise in which individual instruments and voices are swallowed into the maw of sonic bludgeon.

Now, in any other genre I wouldn't even give this stuff house room, let alone write a review. But this is punk, and I always say that in punk, true punk, not yer Green182 style punk, attitude and attack is everything, all else, including production and musicianship is secondary. After all the true ethos of the genre is if you wanna make music and have something to say, then you go head and say it.

And that is exactly what Porco Dio are doing. So what if the result is messy, in the mess theses guys attitude and power comes shining through. There are five tracks on offer, all, with one exception, well under the 90 second mark and all packed with raw crusty hardcore aggression that really is most infectious. As I've said before, I do have a soft spot for this kind of DIY punk and whilst I doubt that Porco Dio will ever reach anything beyond being cult draws on the local Finnish punk scene, anyone who likes it as raw as possible and with less than zero frills, will do well to give this a quick listen, after all its a free ep after all.

Very entertaining.

For fans of... The Swine, The Oppressed, Red XIII etc....

This ep can be downloaded from here... http://porcodiohc.bandcamp.com/album/eka-demo